Topological Order: From Long-Range Entangled Quantum Matter to a Unified Origin of Light and Electrons
Name
2020.2013.198710.pdf
Size
6.61 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
df52c24e09e236865b9c0e09b220e30f
Author(s)
Wen, Xiao-Gang
Date Issued
2013
Journal
ISRN Condensed Matter Physics
Publisher
Hindawi Publishing Corporation
Citation
Wen, Xiao-Gang. “Topological Order: From Long-Range Entangled Quantum Matter to a Unified Origin of Light and Electrons.” ISRN Condensed Matter Physics 2013 (2013): 1–20.
Version
Final published version
Abstract
We review the progress in the last 20–30 years, during which we discovered that there are many new phases of matter that are beyond the traditional Landau symmetry breaking theory. We discuss new “topological” phenomena, such as topological degeneracy that reveals the existence of those new phases—topologically ordered phases. Just like zero viscosity defines the superfluid order, the new “topological” phenomena define the topological order at macroscopic level. More recently, we found that at the microscopical level, topological order is due to long-range quantum entanglements. Long-range quantum entanglements lead to many amazing emergent phenomena, such as fractional charges and fractional statistics. Long-range quantum entanglements can even provide a unified origin of light and electrons; light is a fluctuation of long-range entanglements, and electrons are defects in long-range entanglements.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Physics
Terms of Use
Creative Commons Attribution
Persistent DSpace Link
DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1155/2013/198710
